Liquor Policy: Delhi Court Refuses To Stay Summons Issued To CM Arvind Kejriwal By Magisterial Court

A Delhi Court on Friday refused to stay two orders of a magisterial court summoning Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the complaints moved by Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleging non compliance of the summons issued to him by the agency in the alleged liquor policy scam.

Special CBI Judge Rakesh Syal of Rouse Avenue Courts rejected the interim stay request of Kejriwal in his revision petitions against the summoning orders. 

“The request for stay has been declined. For exemption, you can move the trial court,” the court said while pronouncing the order.

Kejriwal was directed to appear physically in court tomorrow. His revision petitions are now listed for hearing on March 30.

Kejriwal challenged two orders passed by ACMM court summoning him in the criminal complaints filed by ED. The agency has alleged that Kejriwal had not complied with the summons issued to him in the money laundering case.

The ACMM court had directed Kejriwal to appear before it on March 16.

Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta and Advocate Rajiv Mohan appeared for Kejriwal. ASG SV Raju along with special counsel Zoheb Hossain represented ED.

So far, Kejriwal has been issued eight summons in the case. ED had earlier filed a complaint case against the Chief Minister for not complying with the initial three summons issued to him. A fresh complaint was filed later alleging non compliance with the other summons.

Kejriwal has skipped the summons, claiming that they are illegal. However, he informed ED recently that he could be questioned via a videoconferencing link after March 12.

The fresh complaint case was filed by ED under Section 190 (1)(a) of Cr.P.C. read with Section 200 of the Code, Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 63 (4) of PMLA, 2002.

Aam Aadmi Party leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh have been arrested in the money laundering case and are presently in judicial custody.

ED has alleged that the excise policy was implemented as part of a conspiracy to give wholesale business profit of 12 percent to certain private companies, although such a stipulation was not mentioned in the minutes of meetings of Group of Ministers (GoM).

The Central agency has also claimed that there was a conspiracy that was coordinated by Vijay Nair and other individuals along with South Group to give extraordinary profit margins to wholesalers.

Nair was acting on behalf of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, according to the agency.